I’ve interviewed several narrators on Big Gay Fiction Podcast (including Joel Leslie, Derrick McClain, Iggy Toma, Greg Tremblay, Finn Sterling, John Solo and Michael Pauley) and there’s always discussion on their recording process. Storyteller goes way beyond what I’d go into for a BGFP interview getting into the down and dirty details of how to become a narrator, what you should do to prep, what happens in the recording studio and more. Plus, beyond Lorelei’s perspective as a narrator, the book has insight from Ali Muirden, a Grammy Award-winning audiobook producer and Ali’s business partner.

As someone who recently dabbled with recording audio for a short story (you can read about that here), I was fascinated by the nuts and bolts around selecting voices, preparing the book, methods for taking care of the voice and what the producer and engineer do in a recording session and into editing. I recommend this not only for anyone thinking about becoming a narrator but also for authors so you understand what goes into the production of your audiobooks. Audiobook listeners may also find this of interest, especially if you’ve ever wondered how the magic of audiobooks happens.

Will and I created Big Gay Fiction Podcast to not only spotlight authors and books that we love, but to also spread the word about our books. Odds are if you like the books we’re talking about you might also enjoy one of ours. Paul takes the idea even further as he talks about turning stories and books into podcasts and how to use the medium to, just as the title says, sell more books.

Beyond the content marketing knowledge, Paul offers all the information you’d need to start your own show. Even with BGFP in its fourth year, I found the details on microphones and audio editors quite helpful along with some of the other technical aspects that I could totally geek out on. If you’re an author who is considering making the leap into podcasting for any reason, you should pick this up.